


Scuffs on the Pavement; Scratches on the Walls

by Curlscat



Category: The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curlscat/pseuds/Curlscat
Summary: Outsider POV of Sabrina and Daphne's orphanage days; ficlet.





	Scuffs on the Pavement; Scratches on the Walls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EstrangeloEdessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstrangeloEdessa/gifts).



The kids at the orphanage don’t look too hard at the new girls at first. They’re just two new faces, not worth getting to know. The older one’s pretty, in a fascinating way, big eyebrows and sharp cheekbones and skin that, by all rights, is too dark for someone with hair that blonde. She, like most of the kids, doesn’t smile much. The look is something that’ll make people take pity on the beautiful tragic girl and want to adopt her. The younger one isn’t nearly so much like an ethereal tragedy. She looks like a burnt marshmallow: round and soft, brown and black all over the place, with just a few spots of white poking through as eyes and an easy smile. Her bubbly personality will get her adopted just as fast.

They’ll be gone in a week.

They are. They’re snatched up by a young couple early on, gone to live a happy life outside of this orphanage. Nobody bothered to get to know them, so nobody misses them. But then, less than a month later, they’re back.

This time, the kids look closer. People only come back if they’re gonna be jumpers. And there’s almost always something wrong with jumpers- they jump from foster home to foster home because their parents won’t keep them.

Upon closer inspection, the younger one’s smile isn’t just bright and winning. It’s full of mischief. It spells trouble for anyone who comes near her. Not malicious trouble, but difficulty. And the older one… her blue eyes aren’t pools of sadness. They’re hot, blue flames of anger.

So even when the kids know the girls (Grimm. What a weird name) are here to stay, they don’t befriend them. Nobody has many friends here, but most of them have some. The girls, though? The younger one tries. But the second someone upsets her in the slightest, the older one’s there to pounce on them. Not-Suzie is dangerous, and the fear of earning her wrath keeps most of the orphans away from both girls.

And the nastier kids? The ones who  _want_  to fight someone, or hurt a little kid? The ones who’ve been here so long, who’ve been through so much, that all they can think to do is strike back at someone, anyone? After the first month, they learn to fear the wrath of Not-Sally Grimm. They leave the girls alone.

They come and go, like most of the kids. Soon they’re regular faces at the home, just two more girls in line for what passes as food. Not-Debbie’s smile grows less prominent. Not-Sally gets fiercer. As far as the other kids are concerned, they’ll probably be here until one or both of them ages out. Nobody tries to reach out to them; it’s not what you do. You stay close to the few people you can depend on, and ignore or avoid the others.

And then one day, they’re gone. There are whispers of family coming to take them, spoken like dreams of winning the lottery or finding a small mountain of muffins on your walk home from school. Later, there are stories involving giant green robots and flying men and hot air balloons on the Empire State Building and monsters and driving Ms. Smirt absolutely crazy and making her retire at long last, but nobody believes those any more than they believe that their family actually came and got them (if the girls had family, they’d never have come to the orphanage).

The Grimm girls fade into orphanage legend, after a while. Given enough time, nobody remembers their names. Not even the ones that weren’t ever really their names. But sometimes one of them will look up and see a brown face in the crowd, and they’ll start, just for a little bit.


End file.
